


The Gift of Tenderness

by in_the_next_life



Series: The Sweethearts Collection [4]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Valentine's Day, brief mention of canoodling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 17:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17792030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/in_the_next_life/pseuds/in_the_next_life
Summary: They had never really been tender with one another.Then again, maybe there were. Sometimes he noticed little things.





	The Gift of Tenderness

They had never really been tender with one another. The scars from scratches down each other’s backs and the ghosts of bruises that sometimes peppered their collarbones couldn’t really be classified as tender. They didn’t hold hands or kiss in public they way that lovers did. Vanitas would be hard pressed to say he was in love. They just weren’t tender with each other the way he guessed that lovers were supposed to be. 

Then again, maybe there were. Sometimes he noticed little things. 

The coffees he would find left on his desk now and then after he finished giving his late night lectures, still hot. The texts he couldn’t keep himself from sending out every night at 11 pm that said “take your meds, dumbass” and the ones he got back that said “you too”. The way sometimes, in the quiet, dark mess that was Axel’s apartment, they would just listen to each other breathe, while pretending they were both still asleep. 

Were those things tender? Vanitas didn’t know and it made his stomach hurt to think about the fact that something more complicated was developing between them. 

More than anything, he hated the fact that he was having this particular internal dialogue with himself in the middle of aisle four of his local supermarket just because he saw a box of chocolates that said “I’m Hot 4 U Valentine”. What kind of fucking schoolgirl bullshit was that, exactly? He was embarrassed for himself, really. He was walking away. He was….

...picking it up and putting it in his cart?  
God, he hated every part of himself. He was picking it up and putting it in his cart.

With a scowl on his face, his mind moved on to two new questions. One: how the hell was he supposed to actually face the cashier at check out like this, and two:

Did Axel even like chocolate?

____

Axel hated chocolate. Quite frankly, he hated the whole bullshit holiday that was Valentine’s Day in general. It was a pain in the ass! And, you know, expensive when you were polyamorous. 

But damn, did he love his partners, and they, in turn, loved chocolate. So here he was, in aisle four of his local supermarket, trying to pick out gifts for some of them. There were plenty of options: cherry cordials, truffles, giant novelty sized chocolate bars, fudge. All of them made him grimace at the thought of them, but he powered through, tipping things into the little red basket at his elbow as he made selections. 

When he got past the chocolate section and into the candy, well, then he decided he didn’t mind Valentine’s Day so much anymore. Forty percent off on lemon drops? That was one hell of a steal. He threw two bags into his basket just for himself. He liked to suck on them in between working on lesson plans and grading papers; it kept him sharp and helped him focus.

He liked things that kept him in the moment. Sour candy was one of the more innocuous things that did.

There were other things that were good for that, too: like, biting his lips for example. Or a having someone else bite his lips. Vanitas was particularly good at that one. 

He looked down at his basket and wondered if Vanitas liked chocolate, too. 

Probably not. And there was a ninety-nine percent chance that if he bought him anything, he’d get a “go fuck yourself” in return.

Then again, there was that one percent chance he wouldn’t. Axel had always liked to play against the odds.

His eyes scanned the shelves again for something that his partner (were they partners? was that the right word to use for Vanitas?) might like, taking in all the rose colored heart shaped boxes and trying to pick out the one that looked the best. Was this too sappy and obnoxious? Absolutely. Was he going to do it anyway? Absolutely.

Finally, his eyes settled on the perfect one. A little box of chocolates that said “I’m Hot 4 U Valentine”. It was exactly his brand of Annoying.

Axel tossed it in his basket and didn’t look back.


End file.
